Two Sides
by lonelywaldorf
Summary: Since being seperated from T-Dog and the others, Georgie owes her life to Sayid, a charming Medical Corp, and Michonne, an ex lawyer turned Katana bearing warrior. The trio are trying to reach a supposed safe zone-but nothing is ever that simple.
1. Chapter 1

**So, I wanted to flag this as having Michonne as a main character, seeing as she comes up in the second series finale, but she's not an option yet, which is sad!**

**If you haven't checked out my other stories yet, please do! They're kind of like a series. Just go check out my profile-and please review!**

**Sayid**

Lowering his backpack onto the ground, Sayid looked at Michonne and Georgie, the girl who only a week or so previously had been close to bleeding to death in his arms. He grinned in spite of himself. You would never have known. Hauling herself up the steep ravine, she looked as stubborn and determined as any of his brothers in the army. Even Michonne was impressed by her. She'd never say as much, but there was a level of respect in their mostly wordless communication. Even though Michonne had been ready to slice Georgie's head open, Georgie didn't seem to hold it against her.

"It would have been the sensible thing to do," was her only comment. In fact, accepting the sensible thing to seemed to be all Georgie was doing at the moment.

After they had pulled her back to the lodge and Sayid had managed to crudely stitch together her wound, he had attempted to contact Abraham on the radio, but with no result. In lowered voices, he and Michonne had discussed their next move. It seemed suicidal to stay in the area, with those mad men running around. But if they left, then they could miss out on their chance to find somewhere safe to live. Plus, they were potentially sending innocent people into a volatile situation. But when the undead's numbers had started to increase around their little lodge, they quickly came to a decision, go back to the town and hope for the best.

Getting to the town had been easier than expected. Even with the severity of her wound, Georgie was remarkably fit. She seemed determined to show herself to be of use to Sayid and Michonne, and when she realised they were going back to the town, she almost ran out of the lodge. Sayid knew that was where her friends were, her family, her loved ones. It made sense that she'd want to go back to them, protect them. Even if she was running into a situation so complicated it made his head spin. From what he could gather, it was the brother of one of her friends that had stabbed her. He hesitated to use the word 'friend'. From what he had gathered from Georgie, the way she spoke about him, it seemed that Daryl was more than that. But he didn't press for details, and she didn't offer any.

But when they had gotten to the town, it was abandoned, the streets littered with smoking piles of burnt bodies. At the main entrance, there were two mounds, with crude makeshift crosses at the heads. Georgie's face had gone ashen, and for a moment, Sayid had thought he would have to catch her. Michonne had studied the two crosses for a moment, and then turned.

" 'B' and 'G'." She'd looked at Georgie quizzically. "Who?"

"Oh no..." Georgie had bent over, supporting herself on her thighs for a second. "Ben. B is Ben. Adele's boyfriend. The only one any use with medical things. Oh God. Poor Adele." Sayid had rubbed her back, feeling useless.

"And G?" Michonne had no such tack, pressing on.

"Me of course. Georgina. Georgie." She'd turned away from the graves then. Sayid wondered what it was like to look at your own tombstone so to speak. "So I guess there's nothing left to do. What now?"

They'd scavenged the town, looking for supplies. The group must have left in a hurry, as they hadn't bothered to strip the town bare of food. Georgie even found a few items she recognised as belonging to her friends-a necklace, a teddy and an old plaid shirt that she slipped on over the vest Michonne had lent her. From the way she clung to the teddy, Sayid thought it must have belonged to her daughter Sophie. The most precious find came last though, a crossbow and some arrows.

"Why leave such valuable weapons behind?" Michonne had been unable to comprehend this.

"Because they're mine. No one else is the right size to use them." Georgie had snatched the items of Michonne almost aggressively. Swinging them onto her back she'd left the room, ignoring the looks exchanged between Sayid and Michonne.

As it had turned out, the crossbow had come in very useful. It had been decided that they would attempt to find the town themselves. Michonne had reasoned that given the tire tracks in the ground, that not only had Georgie's companions left the town, but that Abraham and the others had come to find them, and followed them to collect them.

"How can you tell?" Georgie had attempted to keep her hope concealed with only a partial amount of success.

"Did your friends have quad bikes?" Michonne pointed at the narrower set of tracks. "Aaron told us he'd come ahead on a quad, so we'd know it was him."

"Then it's settled. We make our way to the town." Using the map he had taken from the map, the three of them had poured over it, figuring out their current location, and estimating the location of the town. It had been decided it would be better to go to them, as it was likely that the town had been written off, and the three of them assumed dead. And now they were scrambling up a ravine, walking along the river so at least they knew where they were according to the map. Even though she wasn't 100%, Georgie had already proved without a shadow of a doubt, that the crossbow belonged to her. If Sayid hadn't admired her for her refusal to die before, he admired her for her precision with the bow; watching her take down animals and the undead with ease. The only thing that concerned him about it, was when she disappeared to retrieve her arrows. But after the first time she shot a walker dead in the eye, Michonne was more than happy to accompany her. Between her sword, Georgie's bow, and his guns, Sayid felt safe.

"Here?" He turned to Michonne. Even though she used to be a lawyer, Michonne had adapted to living in the woods very quickly. She had a knack for spotting things, things that could make or break a shelter. She scanned the area, and then nodded. Georgie scrambled up the last few steps and then stopped, looking at Michonne warily.

"Here's fine." Michonne spoke in her usual short sentences. "Lots of cover. High up. Difficult for the dead to reach. We'll be gone before they get half way."

"Then we sleep here." Sayid sat on the floor, unloading his bag. Michonne pulled out a bundle and started to unwrap it. The remains of two rabbits were inside, killed earlier by Georgie. They would be cold, but would make an excellent dinner. Sayid shook his water canister and frowned. His was empty.

"I need to go back down to the river, fill my canister." He held his hand out to Michonne and Georgie. "If you get a fire going, I'll fill yours." Both nodded and handed their containers over to him. Looping them onto his belt, he began the tricky journey down the slope. The land was loose, and he had to make double-triple-sure of every foothold. At times, he found himself clinging to over hanging branches, or almost scooting down on his behind. None of this mattered to him. If it was hard for him to get up and down, it would be near impossible for the abominations that were the undead to get to them. Michonne was right.

Finally, he reached the water. He knelt down by its edge and plunged his head under, enjoying the coolness on his skin. Only for a moment though. He couldn't afford to be complacent, not until he was back up in the rocks for safety.

No sooner had he thought this, then he heard a shuffling from his left. Adrenaline started to course through his veins, and his hand moved to one of the knives concealed in his right boot. Once his hand was securely wrapped around the handle, he turned his head towards the noise.

Not just one, but four undead were coming towards him. All were at the stage of decay, where even if one cared much, it was impossible to really determine how old they had been, race, age, anything. Sayid stood slowly, heart racing, blood pumping in his ears, but his hand steady. He'd faced similar odds and come out unscathed, but he hadn't come out that way by rushing into a fight. He forced himself to weigh up the situation. He could simply make a bolt up the side, but the likely hood of him slipping and falling into the clutches of these creatures was too great. And even if he did make it, they'd still be there waiting. And their moans could very well attract others. No, better to end it now.

With practised accuracy, he flung the knife into the eye socket of the closest creature, the one that only had one arm-or at least only one covered in flesh. Like a stone, it dropped to the ground, it's bones smashing as it hit the rocks. Before the others could react, Sayid rolled towards it and yanked the knife out of its eye. This placed him in a strategic, but dangerous position, in the middle of the pack. He had to move fast.

He thrust the knife into the base of the skull of the creature in front, ducking as he felt cold clammy hands brush the base of his neck. Pulling his smaller knife out of his belt, he spun around ready to deal with the remaining two. As he did, he was aware of a blur of something speed past his eyes. Suddenly, there was only one left. He blinked, taken aback, and saw that one creature was now pinned by an arrow to the floor. He looked up, to see Georgie stood on the edge of the ledge they were camping on, crossbow in hand, looking grim. He turned back to the remaining undead, to see Michonne calmly sweeping it's head off in one fluid, deadly motion. Kneeling, she wiped the blood onto a piece of moss and sheaved her katana.

"How did you get down so fast?" Sayid turned to the river to fill the containers.

"The rope." Michonne pointed at the slope. The brown rope Sayid had taken from an extreme sports shop in the city was lying there. "We tied it to a tree. The knots you showed me are very useful."

"I'll say." Sayid stood and looked at the bodies on the ground. None moved. That was good. "Well, lets take it up with us. And lets get Georgie on first watch. If any more come, it's nice to have the advantage of not having to be face to face with them." Michonne nodded her agreement. Both moved to the rope.

"OI!" Sayid looked up at Georgie. Didn't she know by now to keep her voice down? Why did she think he'd not just taken his gun and blasted the whole group away? She was pointing violently behind him. Were there more? Confused, he stared across the river.

"She wants her arrow." Michonne was already starting to climb.

Of course. Arrows weren't in limitless supply, but they were reusable. Sayid stepped on the creatures chest, and pulled the arrow out slowly. Georgie had shown him it was useless to force it, you could lose the arrow head that way. It came loose with a sickening, sucking sound. Wiping on the same moss Michonne had used, Sayid gripped it in his mouth and started to climb the slope, back to a sense of some kind of safety.


	2. Captured

The next morning was uneventful. Despite the events of the previous evening, no more of the undead were waiting for them. After they had finished off a tin of canned beans each, Sayid unrolled the map and the three of them poured over it.

"We're about here. We went past this lake yesterday. So we should come out into the open at some point today." Sayid looked at the women. "This is where it could be dangerous. There's not a lot of cover here. It means we'll be easily spotted by anything out there."

"But we'll spot them too." Michonne gripped the hilt of her sword. "And we'll get them first." A sideways look at Georgie and her crossbow suggested that this was Georgie's responsibility.

"Mmm." Sayid pressed on. "If you look, this is Washington. And here," he pointed to three spots on the map, "are three minor towns. Any of these could be the place that Dayo talked about. All on the outside of Washington, to the North East." Michonne and Georgie studied the map.

"Where do you think is most likely? I assume he didn't grace you with the name of the place?" Sayid smiled.

"No. Smart man. So I think our best choice is to start at the bottom and investigate each town. If we're lucky, the first one will be the one we want. And if not, we can always loot. Grab supplies, maybe hi-jack a car." Make travel easier anyway."

"Do you know how to hot wire a car?" Georgie looked doubtful. Sayid simply smiled.

"What makes you so sure that this place is legit?" Michonne didn't look up, still examining the map, hands tracing where Sayid had pointed out. Sayid didn't blame her for her lack of confidence in him.

"Unlike the rest of the country, Washington and the surrounding areas are on separate power grids. They also have solar power grids. In case of emergencies. This town here, has a high military population. So combine access to power with trained military personal and we could have a winner. However, _these towns_ are further away from Washington. Experience tells us that towns closer to big cities are more likely to be overrun. So, most people would have probably moved back, away from the danger. But, it's better to be safe than sorry, so we'll check it out anyway." Michonne nodded, seemingly satisfied.

"How long?" Sayid looked at the map, calculating the distance.

"Well, this one, the military one, is about thirty miles away. So maybe a day or so walking. Depending on..." He looked at Georgie.

"A day." Georgie said firmly.

The three of them regarded each other.

"Ok then." Sayid stood up. "No time like the present."

It didn't take them long to get to the edge of the woods. Sayid studied the map and then pointed. The three of them walked in silence, focused on looking for trouble, speaking as little as possible, except to raise a hand and point out possible zombie sightings. Only two of those turned out to be legit, and for both, the creature was too far away to be able to register that possible sources of food were passing it by.

At noon, they had covered around half of the distance they needed to. They were sat in silence, eating more tinned food, when there was a different sound.

"Stop." Michonne tapped Sayid on his arm. "Can you hear that?" Georgie twisted her body to look in the direction of the noise.

"It's a car!" She turned to Michonne. "Some sort of vehicle anyway." Sayids heart quickened. Could it be that they had had a stroke of luck? Had Aaron and Abraham come out to find them? He stood up, shielding his eyes against the sun. The car, was in fact a large van. He couldn't make out who was driving, but odds were it was the men they had been looking for. He started to jump and wave, and sure enough, the van changed direction and headed straight towards them, ignoring the roads.

"Is that a good idea?" Georgie started to reload her crossbow. "It could be anyone." Sayid raised an eyebrow.

"How likely do you think it is that there's more than one town functioning here? It has to be them. And even if it isn't the same people from the town, the fact we know names of people in the community will reassure them." He continued to wave, until the van pulled up next to them.

There were two men and a woman in the van, but only one man got out. He was a monster. Easily six foot tall, stocky and muscular. Powerful. His hands looked as if he could crush a mans skull without breaking a sweat. Sayid automatically took a step back. He saw the van rise a little as he got out. This was no half starved survivor. This was a killing machine.

His brown eyes scanned over the three of them. He rubbed his neck and took a step towards them. Sayid saw Michonnes hand go to her sword.

"Easy Michonne," he murmured.

"Name's Dayo. Who the hell are you." His voice was astonishingly deep, but melodic. He sounded like he might be from Louisiana. Sayid felt a wave of disappointment crash over him-it wasn't Aaron. No matter, more than likely they took shifts, or different people covered different areas. He pressed on.

"It's us. We spoke to your man Aaron on the radio," Sayid rushed over his words in an effort to convince Dayo not to shoot them, or crush them to death with his hands. "We have an extra now though." Dayo said nothing, just continued to stare at them with his dark eyes. Sayid realised with a jolt of unease that his eyes weren't brown, but jet black. He folded his arms and glanced back at the van. The other two people got out. Neither were any less intimidating than Dayo. The woman, although slender, was still toned, muscular and was looking at the three of them like they were a meal. The other man, although not as tall as Dayo, had the same aura of power.

All of a sudden Sayid knew that these people weren't from the same place as Aaron, and that they could be in real trouble.

"You know what. My mistake." He put his hands up in a defensive mode and started to walk away. Michonne and Georgie followed suit, Georgie with her cross bow raised. "We'll be on our way now."

Dayo laughed.

"Sure you will."

A blast of pain shot through Sayids body, and his muscles started to jerk uncontrollably. He heard Michonne and Georgie fall to the ground beside him, and felt, rather than saw, his arms being jerked behind his back, and handcuffs being placed around his wrists.

"Tie em in the back. We don't know how dangerous they'll be once they get full function back." A bag was forced over his head, and he felt himself being placed into a van. Furious, he started to lash out as the feeling came back into his body.

"Zxander, Bella. Deal with them. Don't want them tiring themselves out before we get them back to base." Firm hands grasped his legs and he felt some sort of cord being tied around them, in an attempt to restrain them. Gritting his teeth, he flung his foot out, and with grim satisfaction felt it connect with something-a jaw hopefully.

"GODDAM!" the woman's voice rang out.

"You're making this harder than it needs to be." A second male voice, not as deep nor melodic as Dayo's. Sayid kicked out again in response. He felt the van dip as someone climbed into the back with him, and then felt himself being turned onto his front. A blinding pain struck the back of his head, and then the world went black.


	3. Interview

**Bella**

Bella opened the hatch to the cell where the lighter skinned strange woman was being kept. She was lying on the bed, hands behind her head, staring at the ceiling. She closed the hatch and turned to Zxander and Dayo. Leven stood next to her, almost shoulder to shoulder. Or, she would have been if Bella wasn't five foot one, and Leven a willowy five foot eight.

"She's still awake. She doesn't look that dangerous. I say we go in." She went to turn the key, but Zxander put his hand over hers.

"Seriously? Where were you yesterday? Because I _thought_ you were out in the wilds with me, getting your lip busted by three underfed strangers, but apparently you were taking a walk in a meadow of flowers and bunnies." He tapped her playfully under the chin. Dayo and Leven laughed, making Bella bristle. At nineteen, she was probably the youngest person still considered an adult in Elysium, and everyone let her know it. She furiously pushed his hand away and scowled.

"Yeah, by the man. She didn't do anything. Probably still weak from that stab wound..." Bella trailed off. Leven and Dayo shook their heads in disgust.

"If I'da known, I'da have never shot the taser at her. Done more harm then good." Dayo's deep Southern voice was full of self reproach.

"It's standard procedure my friend. Subdue strangers, eliminate any possibility of them being dangerous, don't let them see our location and then evaluate." Zxanders eyes flicked towards the cell. "I wonder...what happened to her. And which of her friends dressed the wound."

"Come on in, and I'll tell you." Bella and Leven jumped away from the cell door as the voice rang from inside. The four of them stared at the door for a moment. Then Bella walked forward.

"She's chained to the wall by her ankle," she reasoned with the others. "What harm can she do me?" She entered the cell, but before she could close the door, Leven slipped in behind her.

"Two bodies are better than one, non?" Bella didn't like to admit that the Frenchwoman's presence reassured her, but she nodded. She studied the woman on the cell bed. She was slim, olive skinned and brown haired. Her ears were littered with studs, and one sparkled from her left nostril. Like most people they picked up from the wilds, her hair was messily tied back in a pony tail, her eyebrows wild, her hands and fingernails dirty. After supervising her shower, Bella knew the woman had more piercings in her belly button and three tattoos. She also knew she was covered almost head to toes in scars. All, but one, were old and faded. Jack, their resident medic had wanted to prescribe antibiotics to clear any infection, but Dayo had said no. There was no point, unless she passed the physical, wasting valuable medicine. And she didn't show signs of infection. So she could wait. Straightening her back, Bella cleared her throat.

"Ma'am. My name is Isabella Rambin. This is Caporal Chief Leven Furhman, of the Chassuers Alpins. We're here to explain to you the procedure that you're to undertake over the next few days." The woman turned her head to face them. Dark brown eyes. A nasty scar down one cheek. Bella was suddenly certain that this woman would pass the physical with flying colours. The look in her eyes was one of a fighter and saviour, someone who was use to weighing up the opposition, to finding the best way out of a tight spot. She could see her doing it now, taking in the small brunette woman with the child like face, and the tall slim blonde French woman who blocked the door. She would have heard that Zxander and Dayo were just outside that door, and beyond them, countless others. She knew all that, and so she was forming a plan of sorts. Slowly, the woman sat up and stared at them.

"You look very young." Bella swallowed her indignation.

"I'm nineteen years old ma'am." The woman leant her head to one side.

"Do you mean you were nineteen when the walkers came, or you're nineteen now?" Bella looked at Leven in confusion. Leven shrugged, equally confused.

"I...I was nineteen when the...walkers...started to rise ma'am yes." The woman nodded in satisfaction.

"Then you're probably twenty. Congratulations, you're no longer a child." Bella stared for a moment, then regained her composure.

"You...you're currently residing in a holding cell in Elysium. This is only until you take your physical, upon which you will either be made an offer of residency, or be taken back to the wilds, to continue your travels. The physical is..."

"Elysium?" The woman interrupted. "Isn't that, like, some sort of heaven?"

"It is." Leven interrupted, obviously irritated by the woman's questions. "The Elysium fields were a part of the afterlife the Greeks believed were reserved for great heroes and righteous men." The woman looked amused.

"And that's where I am. In a city full of heroes and righteous men? That attack and kidnap strangers and lock them up?" She laughed, clapping her hands. "You're all insane." Bella stiffened. She could imagine how it looked to this woman, but how could she explain.

"The process of your attainment, is necessary to protect current citizens. If the location of Elysium is known to persons other than those loyal to Elysium, then there is risk of undesirables trying to storm the city and preventing the achievement of the Elysium dream." The woman snorted.

"And what is that dream?"

"Taking back the world from the dead." Bella spoke without hesitation.

"Creating a new race of human. A race of strong, resourceful people." Leven added. The woman scowled.

"I've had enough of that crap from the Nazi fuck who stabbed me." Bella shock her head briskly.

"Not a pure master race ma'am. Not like that. Just a race of strong people, who fight, take down walkers, who support the rehabilitation and re population of the earth. That's what the physical is for. To separate Elysium from the lucky. Doesn't matter if you're black, white, Hindu, whatever. If you can fight, and you can train, you can stay." Bella was aware that her voice had risen slightly, as it tended to do when she spoke about the Elysium dream. But the woman was finally still. She sat up straight and looked at the pair straight for the first time.

"Is this all for real? A safe place to stay, to live, and all you want from me, is the commitment to take down a few walkers?" Bella nodded. The woman thought for a moment. Then more to herself then anyone else, she muttered "what do I have to lose?"

She attempted to get to her feet, but the chain around her ankle pulled her back. Sighing, she held out her right hand.

"Georgina Powell. I want in."

"Your official physical will be in three days," Bella ignored the hand and carried on with her spiel. "In those three days you will have time to prepare and..."

"Fuck the preparation. You find me a walker and a knife, and I'll show you exactly what I can do. Stab wound or no, by the time I'm done, you won't just want me living here, you'll want me training you."

If Georgina had been shouting, or at all aggressive in her tone, Bella would have ignored her. But her voice was simply quietly confident. Bella suddenly wanted to see the woman fight. She wanted to see her use the bow she had been carrying. She wanted to see her take on a walker. But she didn't say any of this.

"It's not up to us Miss Powell. But I will ask. For now, you should rest." She turned on her heels and walked out of the cell, Leven close behind her. Zxander and Dayo stared at them both as they exited.

"She seems...eager." Dayo mused, opening the hatch. "Too eager maybe?"

"We don't know where she 'as been." Leven reminded him. 'Maybe this is a heaven to her. To be safe after wondering in the wild. 'Ou would not want to be in here, rather than out there?"

"Yes but..." Zxander, Dayo and Leven fell into a discussion about the woman. Bella didn't hear any of them. She simply looked through the hatch at Georgina, sitting, idly playing with the sleeves of her shirt, occasionally bringing the fabric up to her face.

"No one gets scars like that through luck," she thought to herself. "I'm going to be at that physical examination. I want to see the action."


	4. Ice

**Jack**

Jack stretched his arms above his head and yawned. His chest and arm muscles still ached from the morning. Training had been shortened for the upcoming physical of the three new comers, but Donnie hadn't gone easy on them. In fact, if anything, he had been harder on them, giving them a shorter, but far more intense workout. Even Zxander and Leven, who were pretty much at the top of their game in regards to fitness, had struggled towards the end. As for Jack, he was just glad not to have thrown up, like he had done the first couple of sessions. For a moment he simply stood, studying his face in the mirrored reflection of the small operating theatre's glass window. It was the only room in the hospital that Herman and Bryan allowed to use electricity constantly, and so was where he carried out most of his treatments and diagnoses.

And occasionally emergency procedures.

It had only been around two months ago that Zxander and Herman had carried a screaming and cursing Dayo in. Blood pouring from an open bite wound on his leg had seemed to seal his fate. Administer a lethal injection, taken from the prison to ease his passing, and place a stake into his head to prevent the turning. Jack had been ready to do it. But something had clicked in his head. Instead of reaching for the needle, Jack had inexplicably grabbed a fire axe and, with a strength he didn't know he had, amputated Dayos leg at the knee.

Herman had almost had him arrested. It had taken Dayos screams to distract him, and both Zxander and Donnie pulling him out of the room to let Jack get on with the urgent task of applying ligatures to the various veins and arteries, using wire from a tool kit he'd found, and cleaning the wound.

Two days later, Dayo still lived, and Jack had found a way to survive being bitten. He'd gone from being a skinny no-body to one of the most important players in Elysium, earning the respect of everyone in the district-including the five 'Seniors' as they were known, and the gratitude of Herman, one of the most important Seniors. After Herman had come to apologise to him personally, Jacci and Danny had not been able to stop laughing at his amazement.

"What did you expect you muppet?" Danny had squeezed his arm around his shoulders and punched him on the cheek. "You stopped his nephew from becoming a rotting mess. Of course he's going to be chuffed with you?"

"Chuffed?" Jack still couldn't get his head around some of Danny's London dialect.

"Yeah chuffed. Pleased as punch. Happy!"

"Oh." Jack nodded. "Well, I just did what was best. He was going to die anyway; it couldn't do any harm to try. It's just a shame he'll be bound to crutches."

"You leave that to me Jack my son." Danny had tapped the side of his nose mysteriously and then disappeared, leaving Jack and Jacci bemused.

"What do you think he's up to?" Jacci shrugged.

"No idea." She twisted her strawberry blonde hair into a bun, and tied it up behind her ears. "You know Danny, he likes to keep the wheeler dealer thing going. He'll turn up with what you need, he always does." And sure enough he had. Before he'd been trapped in America, Danny had been an orderly in a London hospital. Although he had no medical training himself, he had picked up a lot. He returned to Jack a few days later with an inexplicable number of false legs.

"Where did you get these?" Jack had barely been able to speak, so amazed was he.

"Never you mind Jack. Just get one of these on to Dayo, make us look good down here," Danny had grinned, his slightly pointed canine teeth making him look more feline than usual. The application of the limb had proven tricky, and many times Jack had wanted to give in, but two months later, Dayo had been able to go out with Zxander and Bella for a routine sweep of the wilds. Bringing back three strangers.

Jack stared up at the clock. It was time for him to go to the gymnasium in the middle school. This was where the physicals of the three people were to be held-two full days earlier than usual. Somehow, Bella had convinced the Seniors to push it forward, on the urging of the three-a highly unusual move on the parts of everyone involved. He wondered what was in store. Picking up his medical bag, he made his way down the street.

He still couldn't get over the odd mix of normal life and military camp that was Elysium. He could hear that recess was in session for the fifteen or so children under the age of sixteen that lived in the complex, and could see a few of them clambering running around the high school. But he knew if he went to the elementary school, he'd see people working on their sword and knife skills, going through boot camps and training to destroy Zombies. That, or working on recovered vehicles from Washington. Everyone in Elysium had to have a purpose. If you hadn't been something that was considered useful in pre zombie life-a mechanic, a doctor like himself, military personnel-then you were either trained to be one.

That was if you passed the physical. The physical wasn't hard, just a series of circuits designed to make sure you weren't going to slow a scouting party down and put them at risk, that you were agile and quick enough to get yourself out of danger. In all the time Elysium had been up and running, it was said that only one person had failed the physical-a morbidly obese computer technician, who had refused an offer to be allowed to stay in the holding cells and trained to pass, and had opted to leave Elysium, claiming he'd be able to find a less 'barbaric' community to hold up in.

Pushing open the doors to the school, Jack could hear that the physicals were already underway-possibly nearly done. He wasn't required to be there for the whole thing, he was more of a back up, in case someone broke an ankle falling from the ropes. He usually turned up around the end, unless he was sent for, just to check that the new intake hadn't over stretched themselves too soon. Today, he was keen to check on the younger woman, and make sure the stitches on her stab wound hadn't come undone. He turned the corner down to the gymnasium and was met by Dayo.

"How's the leg?" In response, Dayo tapped on his leg. The sound of hollow metal echoed down the hall.

"Great for walking and driving. Still a little shaky when I run, but I'll get use to it." He smiled at Jack, showing disarmingly white teeth against his almost coal black skin. He lead Jack to the gym and showed him inside. "The woman are done. Both fine. Uncle Herman and George are just speaking to the sword bearing one. Michonne her name is. Grace, Oscar and Libby are just dealing with the man. He's Medical Corp, so he'll be of use to you. You just need to deal with Robin Hood."

"What?" Jack frowned. Dayo pointed to a corner of the room, where the third stranger sat, the younger woman, who had been covered in scars. "Oh, _her_." Jack nodded. "Her wound..?" Dayo nodded.

"Uncle Herman just want you to check it. And if it needs antibiotics I guess she can have them now." He went back to the other side of the room, where the Medical Corp was being put through the beep test, the last part of the physical.

Approaching the woman, Jack felt a nervous twinge in his stomach. He was reassured to see Bella and Zxander stood with her. Strangers made him feel uneasy, and even though he was reasonably sure none of the three posed a danger, he wouldn't be comfortable until he knew them better. Neither Bella or Zxander seemed to have such reservations, both chatting to the woman with no qualms. She in turn was looking at them with such a look of incredulity, that Jack couldn't help being amused. Considering the pair of them had essentially abducted her from the wilds, he could understand her being confused. It had to be done though. Ever since Jennifer and Todd had been murdered by a wondering stranger on the wilds, it had been policy to subdue and observe before even considering people for physicals. Kneeling in front of her, he re-introduced himself.

"Hey. Remember me? Jack Ludwig? I just want to check your dressing before you go off to get settled in. And maybe prescribe you some antibiotics if you need it. Mind if I take a look?" The woman didn't hesitate to show him the wound this time. Obviously he'd been gentle enough with it before for her to realise he really did just want to help her. She lifted up the kaki t-shirt she was wearing, to expose her stomach. Jack heard Zxander give a sharp intake of breath at the scars across her abdomen. Bella had obviously seen the worse of them, as had he, but this evidently was the first time Zxander had seen the full extent.

"Yeah, I get that reaction a lot." The sound of her voice made Jack jump slightly. He hadn't heard her speak before. British, like Danny. He examined the dressing-no weeping, no sign of infection. Lifting the bandage away slightly, he saw with satisfaction that the stitches had held well. He moved away and let her lower her top.

"Well it is a pretty impressive collection you got there." He stood up. "You'll be fine. I'll pass a message on to go easy on the training and such, but it's healing nicely." The woman nodded, and then stuck out her hand. Surprised, Jack hesitated, then shook it.

"Georgina Powell. Georgie if you want. Isabelle was telling me about Elysium. How you run it here." Georgie let go of his hand. "It's not what I thought it was."

"How do you mean?" Zxander asked.

"It's...hard to...it's just not as..."Georgie seemed to be struggling for words. Eventually she managed, "it seems freer. And not as _controlled_." She shook her head. "I don't know. Last time I was somewhere like this, it was pretty brutal. And very misogynist."

"What?" Bella wrinkled her nose. "What does that mean?"

"Woman hating." Jack answered coldly before Georgie could. "I suppose that's the root of your collection then." Cold memories flooded his mind and he tried to push them away. Georgie slowly nodded.

"Something like that yeah." She looked at him curiously. "You ok?"

"Fine," Jack lied. "I just, I should check your friends." He picked up his kit, and attempted a warm smile. He got the impression he failed. "Good to finally know your name Georgie. I hope to see more of you around here." And before anyone could say anything more, he rushed away, without a backward glance.


	5. Fitting In

**Sayid**

"This is nice." Sayid looked around the small room he'd been given. Zxander and Dayo hovered in the doorway looking in anxiously. Sayid got the feeling they wanted to impress him. He turned and smiled. "Seriously. A bed? Bedding? _Curtains_." He walked over and sat on the bed. "This is luxury! I just wish I had something to put in the wardrobe." He lay on the bed and stretched out, putting his hands behind his head.

"Sorry about the size of the room, but, you know..." Zxander rushed over his words, but Sayid waved a hand at him.

"First come first serve, I get it. Look, after sleeping in trees and on rocky ground, the cell was nice. _THIS_..." he gave an exaggerated sigh of contentment. Dayo smiled. Sayid noticed how his whole face changed when he smiled. No longer was he the threatening giant that he had encountered in the 'wilds' as everyone referred to the area beyond the walls of the town. Outside of the walls, it was obvious that Dayo was given a lot of responsibility that people's lives depended on his judgement. Sayid already knew from Zxander that two people had died due to being too ready to take in strangers. He knew that if he'd had been in Dayos position, he would have probably done the same.

Swinging his feet off the bed, he followed Dayo down the hall, closely followed by Zxander. Sayid couldn't help but marvel at how Dayo moved on his false leg. If he hadn't overheard Jack, the baby faced doctor, reminding Dayo to come for his check up, Sayid would have never known. Dayo opened the door to a large bathroom.

"Hot water isn't really an issue right now, cause of it being summer. When winter comes...well we'll see. It might be that we need to ration it or something. Now, if you look out back..." Dayo led him down the stairs to the back yard. Sayid blinked in astonishment. Two goats and a few chickens wondered around aimlessly. Dayo grinned.

"Just another way for us to be self sufficient. We alternate, so Bella and Jacci," he motioned either side of the yard, "grow veg." Zxander laughed.

"We use to grow crops, but we kept killing them. So his uncle gave us goats and chickens, cause, you know, they'll let you know when they're hungry." Sayid was barely listening, he was fussing over the grey goat closest to him.

"Why do they get a goat?" A familiar voice came from the house to the right and he looked to see Georgie and Michonne looking curiously at him. He couldn't help feeling relived. Even though he hadn't known Georgie for nearly as long as Michonne, he felt just as unnerved not having her in his sights as he did Michonne-even though he knew it was ridiculous. Both were more than capable of defending themselves.

"Goats and chickens are harder to kill than vegetables." Bella smirked at Zxander who made a point of looking anywhere but her. Sayid wondered if they were brother and sister. It wasn't the first time he'd seen brothers and sisters look so different-Zxander, tall blonde, muscular, Bella petite, dark and slender. He resolved to ask later.

"So Michonne." Dayo turned to his old friend. "What was up with the sword stuff? I mean, seriously..?" Michonne blinked, and turned her head slightly. Sayid hoped that her reluctance to talk to a stranger wouldn't make her look snooty or standoffish. It had taken around a month for him to get more than two words out of her at a time-and that was after she had saved his life.

"Just...the weapon I had to hand when it all started," she said eventually, carefully picking over her words. Sayid knew it would take her a long time to get even close to speaking freely around the others. "I always had some skill with it, and well...you saw." Sayid smiled to himself. They had seen. All three had managed not only to show that they were capable of meeting the 'minimum' physical requirements to live in the safety of the town, they had been able to impress the Seniors-the five men and women in charge of the town-exactly how valuable they would be. They hadn't been able to get them to bring in the undead, but Sayid had impressed them with his knife throwing, nailing four cards to the wall as they were thrown in the air. Georgie had done her bit too, not only shooting Frisbees in the air, but then shimmying up the gyms ropes to collect her arrows. But Michonne had stolen the show. Somehow, Bella had managed to get dummies, the type you'd see in department store windows, and set them up in the gym. Michonne had sliced through the lot of them with less effort than it took to slice through butter with a hot knife. Sayid had seen from the looks on the Seniors faces that their skills, would be greatly appreciated and valued in the town.

"Skill?" He stood up. Michonne was underselling herself as usual. Both she and Georgie needed to sell themselves more. Unless they were doing some serious bonding with Bella, he was going to have to do a lot of talking.

"Let me tell you about the first time I met Michonne." He paused for a moment, recollecting that day.

"So, it's maybe a month or so after the outbreak. I was stationed nearer the south. And of course the world has gone to hell in a hand basket as they say. The roads, the cities, the countryside swarms with the unholy walking dead. My whole regiment is dead, my family too. I realise that I can't do anything alone. So I decide to move towards the north, hoping that maybe I can find other soldiers, join up and do some good.

The more I travel however, the less cause I have to think this is a possibility. I look into house after house, to find it empty, occupied by then undead, or worse, filled with the corpses of those who just lost hope. And when I do find survivors, they are lost souls, barely living. That, or they are savages, who are resorting to dark, desperate measures." He noticed out of the corner of his eye, Georgie shiver and look down, not reacting to his story, but to a memory it had stirred within her. Zxander glanced at her too, frowning. Dayo and Bella however, were transfixed on him.

"Soon I give up looking for others, and start to travel through the woods. I manage to survive on roots, berries, the occasional rabbit. I am lucky, I do not run into many of the cursed undead." He was aware that his speaking was becoming more lyrical, the way it did when he told a story. He couldn't help himself, he enjoyed telling stories, and he enjoyed telling them the way he remembered his grandfather telling him stories. But no one seemed to mind.

"One day. My luck runs out. I am out hunting. I have left most of my weapons in the tree I sleep in-a foolish, naive mistake that almost costs me my life." He closed his eyes, re living the scene. "I'm sitting at the river side, washing out the guts of a rabbit. I hear a noise. I look up, turn around. Coming out of the woods, are what seems like an army of the undead. I count them. One, two, four, seven, ten. There are ten of them and one of me. I only have one knife. They are moving towards me blocking off my escape. I can see no way out. I know then that I am to die at the hands of these monsters. If I cut my throat, I will not die before they start to feed on me. I do not have a pistol to destroy my brain. I know I am doomed to become one of them. I wonder how many I can take down before I am overwhelmed.

All of a sudden, three fall to the ground. Their heads hit the floor and suddenly there are seven. I do not know what happened, but I know that there is someone helping me. I throw my knife at the nearest one. A good shot, it lodges in its skull. I run and yank the knife out, throwing it again. By this time, another four have been slain, their heads also separated from their bodies. I take down the last one, and turn to thank my saviour.

It is like something from an epic tale. There stands a hooded figure, sword dripping with blood. I can not see the face, but can see from its stance and figure that it is a woman. But this does not hold my attention for long. Not only does this mysterious stranger have a sword in her hand, but she holds two chains in the other. And these chains are leading two of the undead. Their arms are cut off, and their lower jaws are gone. I am later to learn that they were once Michonne's boyfriend and his best friend.

She lowers her hood, and, as you can imagine, I thank her profusely. I offer her food in thanks, and she accepts. Before she comes back to my camp, she lays her companions to rest. She tells me that travelling with them puts off other undeads, that they don't bother her this way. So I ask her why she has gotten rid of this protection. She says simply that she would rather be with a living person, even if it is for the last few days of her life. I can understand this. So, we start to travel together. Trust each other. Sometimes, I save her skin, sometimes she saves mine. I have to admit, she saves mine a lot more. But for around six, maybe seven months, we have travelled together."

He stopped, and took in the faces of his audience. Michonne was impassive, her reaction to her story of heroism unreadable. Georgie was vaguely interested, but had heard the story so many times, that the impact was somehow lost. Dayo, Zxander and Bella however, was rapt, eyes wide, mouths open. Bella regained her senses first.

"That is the coolest thing..." she trailed off. "I mean...wow! We have people who are trained to shoot for the head, but it's not a great plan, when you can't reuse bullets. If you could train people to use swords like that..."

"It would be amazing." Dayo chimed in. "We have lots of weapons like that stocked up in the armoury. We just need someone willing to show us how to use them. And now...we have you too."

"And Georgie." Sayid saw Zxander shoot another glance at Georgie. "Shooting an arrow the way you did...I'm gonna be the first signing up for those lessons." He looked to Sayid. "How did you meet Georgie? Was it as cool as when you met Michonne?"

"No." Georgie said shortly. "The brother of the man I was involved with showed up to the town we were hiding out in. Along with a load of Nazis. They sniffed out the black in me, and the brother stuck a hunting knife into my abdomen. I staggered into the woods and Sayid stopped me from bleeding to death. When I was strong enough to go back to the town, walkers had gotten there and my group had moved on. They'd dug me a grave."

"Shit." Zxander looked shocked. For a moment, there was an incredibly loaded silence.

"Dayo!" Everyone jumped.

"Back here Uncle!" Dayo shouted, a little too eagerly. Everyone looked around as Herman came to the back, along with George. Everyone fell silent-both Herman and George had that effect. From what he could gather, both were-or had been-high ranking members in the army. After the collapse of Washington, they, along with the other three 'Seniors' had worked together to secure the military town, managing to bring in the surviving members of their troops, which had amounted to less than fifteen, and a few civilians. They had organised the scavenging of weapons-ALL weapons, not just guns, risking their own lives to search for cattle, goats, chickens, seeds to sustain their community. They had devised the various tests and screening processes for strangers. In short, the sixty or so people currently living in Elysium owed their lives to these men.

"Ah, excellent." George stopped by the fence. "I was hoping to talk to you all actually, so this saves time. We wanted to discuss the possibility of knife, sword and bow and arrow classes. Not immediately of course, we'll let you get settled. But after seeing your skills, we feel the sooner we are equipped with alternative weapons, the better. And we were very impressed with your focus and drive. The fact that you were willing to go straight into the physical with no training, that tells us a lot. So what do you think?"

Sayid nodded. "Sign me up." Michonne nodded agreement. Only Georgie looked unconvinced.

"I...I'd have to think about it." She looked at her nail beds. George and Herman's expressions didn't change.

"Of course." Herman smiled at her winningly. "Don't feel pressured into anything Miss Powell." He turned to Sayid and Michonne. "Would we be able to meet at eighteen hundred hours, in the church? The time is on the church tower." It was more of a command than a question. Both men turned on their heels and left the yard.

Before anyone could comment, Georgie mumbled something about needing a nap and rushed into the house. Ignoring the locals confusion, Sayid stared after her. He had a sneaking suspicion that Georgie wasn't too worried about settling into the town. He could almost hear what she was thinking. If one town had made it out and done so well, why couldn't another.

She wanted to get to the other towns on the map. She wanted to find her friends.


	6. Escape Attempt

**Dayo**

The full moon shone into Dayos room, bathing it in a ghostly white glow. He sat up in bed and looked out of his window at the church tower.

2 am.

Sighing, he scratched the stump of his leg. He wasn't going to get any sleep by fretting about it. He decided to look through the rota for the up coming week. One of the results of being related to Herman, was that he had been made responsible for his own mini troop. He would be told by the Seniors what area of community life they would be responsible for-Farming, Patrolling the Wilds, Scavenging or Lookout. He then had to decide how to organise them, who to group with who, who to give what day free. He needed to be able to pick up on any odd or irresponsible behaviour and decide how to deal with it. In short, he needed to be a leader. And he seemed to be doing ok. No one in his troop had died, and he had never had to report anyone. It helped that he currently had the smallest troop in the community so far, consisting of Zxander, Bella, Leven and Jacki, although he hoped that Herman would assign Sayid and Michonne to his group. Both had fitted in well with the others, and seemed to have started to bond. Sayid chatted away to Zxander and Dayo nineteen to the dozen. He had a natural charm and charisma that endeared him to everyone he met. Dayo knew for a fact that about ten women had already declared themselves madly in love with him. Michonne was a lot quieter, but she seemed at ease with everyone, immersing herself into teaching sword classes, which had been packed every time.

Then there was Georgie.

Dayo frowned as he attached his false limb, just below his knee. Standing, he took a moment to regain his balance before he went to the living room. Lighting a candle, he pulled the papers out of the envelope George had handed him earlier that day and studied them. Seemed they had the week off. He sighed. These weeks were the hardest to organise. Weeks off never really meant weeks off. It meant making sure all team members were on standby in case odd jobs needed doing, and making sure that they spent at least half their time training. At least they had the novelty of two new classes, which meant it would be easier to keep them focused. It would be even better if they had three, if Georgie had agreed to teach archery. But it didn't seem like she had any intentions of putting down roots in Elysium.

She was hard to read. She wasn't rude, or snobbish. She pulled her weight around the town-Dayo had seen her carrying things to and fro, and helping with the vegetables. But she seemed to be isolating herself from everyone. She had made no real effort to create any relationships within the town. Any questions about herself were met with a single sentence, or deflection. And Dayo was sure he'd seen her scoping out the entrance to the town. She had probably already figured out that whilst by no means were people kept prisoner, a strict register was kept of who was coming and going. Dayo didn't understand why if she wanted to leave, she didn't just go. What did she think was going to happen?

He sat at the table and started to think. Bella would defiantly want to be in Sayid's knife class, but he needed to make sure that she went and revised her knowledge of snares with Grace. Far too often her traps came up empty when they went hunting on the outskirts of the wilds. He could probably do with brushing up on them himself. He pencilled them both in, and to pacify Bella, went to sign her up for knife classes, but couldn't see them. Puzzled, he scanned through the papers, his eyes eventually resting on a small piece.

Sayid and Michonne have asked to be assigned to your troop. They will be under your care. Perchance you can persuade Sayid to take turns with Jack as doctor? We also need to discuss continuation of their weaponry classes. What do you think of evening classes? We can discuss the matter further later in the week.

Oscar.

Dayo stared at the paper for a moment. He really was going up in the world. Not only was he in charge of his own troop, but now a Senior that wasn't related to him was actually asking his opinion on something. He wondered how balanced the discussion would be. He packed the papers back in the envelope. Better to look over this tomorrow, after talking to Sayid and Michonne. The absence of Georgie's name did not surprise him.

What to do now. He wondered over to the window and looked out on the street. Evening classes. The idea made him smile. It was so...YMCA centre. So...normal. Well, kind of. The closest his local Y had gotten to how to slash a zombie head open with a samurai sword was the weekly kick boxing classes. Which he had only attended once, and then been too embarrassed to go back to, after he had nearly broken the instructors rib with an over enthusiastic kick to the chest. He had learned to control his strength better since then, but he could still hurt someone if he wasn't careful.

Suddenly, a figure darted across the street. He jumped, and then leaned forward.

Georgie. It was obvious it was her. For one thing, she was making her way towards the wall, for another, she had her crossbow and quiver slung over her shoulders. Dayo blinked. How had she gotten hold of those? They had been locked away in the armoury...or they should have been? A sense of unease passed over Dayo-had she somehow managed to subdue the person who should be standing guard? What if she had done more than subdue him? Had they been wrong about her all along?

Grabbing a jacket, he staggered out of the front door. His false leg rubbed furiously against his stump as he ran down the street, and he wasn't being quiet enough to sneak up on Georgie, but he didn't care. He reached the wall, and scanned it. He spotted her and almost gasped out loud.

Somehow, she had managed to find a part of the wall that was climbable, and was almost a quarter of the way up it. How the hell had she managed that? For a moment, he stood in disbelief, and then remembered why he was there.

With a running leap, he grabbed her by the legs and yanked her off the wall. Before she could scream, he placed his hand over her mouth, and wrapped one arm around her body. In this position, she was helpless, and she must know it. He intentionally flexed his muscles, sending a silent message.

"_One false move, and I can break your neck like a bread stick_" Still she wiggled, twisting her body around, kicking and squirming. Several times, she made contact with a part of his body-painful contact-but he gritted his teeth and held on. At some point she would have to realise that he wasn't letting go.

It took her longer than he expected, but eventually, she stopped moving. He leant down to her ear and whispered

"When I take my hand of your mouth, I want answers-honest answers. You scream, you bring out everyone, and then the shit hits the fan and you're on your own. You understand?" She nodded, still breathing heavily. He took his hand away and she gasped for air.

"You kill anyone?" She glared at him.

"No."

"How'd you get your stuff back?"

"I just unlocked the window when they took us to store our stuff. Snuck in and out, no one saw, no one got hurt." Dayo nodded. Inside he was impressed with her, and annoyed with who ever was on guard. They should have noticed that. But at least she wasn't dangerous. He slowly let her go and she dropped to the ground. She stared up at him.

"Shit. Shit you're strong." She sat on her heels and rubbed her ribs. "What you going to do to me?"

"What?"

"What's the punishment? Whipping? Starvation?" Dayo stared at her. She sat back and stared at him. "That's how places like this work right?"

"Places like what?" Dayo couldn't follow her now.

"Prisons. I mean, you let people roam around and you treat them well, but they still keep tabs on you walking in and out. It's still just a big cage."

For a moment, Dayo stared at her. Where the hell had this woman come from? What made her think like this? He couldn't think of a response. Instead he grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet.

"There's no punishment. People come back because they want to." He looked at her curiously. "Question is what's out there that's so important to you that you would risk death to find it." He looked at her face closely. "Or is it who?" A shadow crossed her face and he nodded. "Who." He sighed. "Walk with me. In fact, support me. You got a hell of a kick and I think you busted my good leg." He leaned on her shoulder and half guided her towards his porch.


	7. Reassurance

Once they were comfortably settled on the porch he looked at her again.

"So who are they?" He reached a hand out and touched the gold necklace around her neck. Her hand pulled it protectively out of his reach. "Is it that guy?" She nodded.

"And a little girl. And my best friend." She looked at him. "I'm really not going to get punished for trying to escape?" Dayo shrugged.

"If you want to leave that badly, we can stock you up and set you on your way tomorrow. With food and warm clothes." Her body relaxed and she slumped against the chair.

"It really is different here." She looked up at the sky. "I wish this was the place..." She stopped suddenly and leant forward to Dayo, her face curious.

"How far have you explored around this town?" Dayo shrugged.

"Only into the city. Why?"

"Didn't you wonder who we meant by Aaron?" When Dayo looked blank, she pressed on. "We were looking for another town. They actively look for survivors. It's more than likely that that's where my old group is. Aaron contacted Sayid by radio. I wanted to go further North. Just to see."

"What were you going to do if you didn't find them?" Dayo was curious to know. Georgie shrugged.

"Carry on North. Come back here and risk the 'whipping'." She laughed and Dayo joined in. "It is safe here. You've done something wonderful. Even better now I know it's not an actual prison."

"So stay. Be a part of it" They both jumped. Zxander was stood in the doorway. "We could use you. And everyone is dying to learn to shoot like you. So stay and work with us." Dayo raised an eyebrow. He didn't know that Zxander had taken enough notice of Georgie to make a decision on if the town needed her, but he let him speak. Georgie slide down further in her chair, looking unhappy.

"What about my friends? What if...what if Adele's less than fifty miles away and I just sit here, doing nothing."

"We can sort that." Dayo smacked his hand to his head. "The scavenging parties can just check out the towns. We've avoided them because of the high Zombie infestation, in small confined streets, but if we're just looking for life, we can observe from a distance. If it's just the dead, no biggie. If it's full of living people, we can find out if your friends made it, maybe establish a link, or trade." He stared at Zxander. "It's such an obvious step, I can't believe no-ones thought of this."

"Our main concern has been creating a safe zone," Zxander reasoned. "Perhaps it was on the agenda, but just not right now." Dayo nodded.

"Well, tomorrow, I'm asking Herman to put it on the agenda. And if he doesn't, I'll stock you up myself. But no more sneaking out at night. The dead are more active at night, you don't need to be putting yourself at risk." Georgie nodded. She looked stunned, as if she couldn't quite believe what was happening, as if she was being given a gift she desperately wanted, but had never dared to hope she would get. Dayo stood up, suddenly tired.

"We need to get to bed. You," he pointed at Georgie, "put your stuff back first thing tomorrow." Not waiting to hear her response, he stood up and walked into the house. He was about to go back to his room, when a thought struck him. He waited at the door and listened. Zxander was talking to Georgie.

"Even if they don't agree to go looking for this town, you should still stay you know. You could make new friends here."

"You can't just replace people Zxander!" Georgie sounded tired and outraged. "_Smooth Zxander"_, Dayo thought.

"These people, they saved my life. They fed me, they looked out for me. Daryl pulled me out of an ice river and stopped me from first drowning and then dying of hypothermia. I can't just replace someone like that!"

'_Ah_,' thought Dayo. '_that's where your necklace came from._' He waited for Zxanders response, but there was only silence. A door closing told him that Georgie had gone back to the house she shared with Bella and Michonne. Not wanting Zxander to know he had overheard his disastrous attempts to persuade Georgie to stay, he climbed back up the stairs to bed.

**By all means, keep an eye on this story. But watch out for something else ;) **


	8. Reopen the wound

**Georgie**

"Earth to Georgie!" Georgie started, and turned her body to see Zxander and Bella standing behind her. Bella burst into laughter.

"You didn't hear a word that I said did you?" She plonked herself next to Georgie, not waiting for an invite, not that Georgie minded. "I was just saying that I really enjoyed the session today, even though I sucked big time." Georgie squeezed Bella's arm and smiled. It was true, Bella had not shown any natural flair for the bow and arrows that had been dug out of the storage area, but neither had anyone in the town. It would take a few more sessions to weed out people with potential. It also didn't help that the bows themselves were in an appalling state. Georgie knew she was going to have words with George and Herman about how they stored the bows. The range was impressive, but it would mean jack squat if they were in such poor condition that they were unusable. She had seen a Parker Cyclone crossbow that Daryl would have knocked her, Matthew and Harry over to get his hands on. If he saw what state it was in…She blinked fiercely. She was going to have to stop thinking about certain people if she was going to start crying every time.

"You ok?" Zxander looked concerned and Georgie forced an irritated cough.

"Freaking hayfever. Because obviously, the undead aren't enough for me to deal with." She sniffed, trying to sound bunged up, and rubbed her eyes.

"Have you been to the Jacks? They might have something for you." Bella idly picked up an arrow and started to sharpen it. Georgie took it off her and passed her an arrow that was actually blunt.

"I've already done those ones. Yeah, Jacci fixed me up. It's just bad today." She turned her attention back to the bow she was trying to repair. The wires were in pretty good condition, but the mechanism needed oiling. She sighed. This was why she preferred long bows to crossbows. A crossbow might have more power, but a long bow was simpler to look after.

"Fucks sake." She put the bow down, fed up with it.

"Is it that bad?" Zxander sat down on Georgies other side, so close she could feel the skin of his arm against hers. She shifted away slightly, and put her head in her hands.

"Kind of. I mean, it's that and the class today. Just…" she trailed off. She didn't know how to explain how the class had affected her without having to go too deeply into feelings she had buried over the last two or three weeks. She shook her head. "You know what, it doesn't matter." She smiled at Zxander and leant backwards, trying to think of something else to talk about.

"BELLA!" Dayo stood in the distance, gesturing at Bella.

"Oh, he looks mad." Zxander leaned around Georgie, grinning at Bella. "What did you do?" Bella scowled.

"Nothing. He just wants me to go to that stupid snare class." She stood up and petulantly threw the arrow onto the pile of sharpened ones. She sighed, and made her way to Dayo. "I'm coming, I'm coming." The two of them walked away, clearly still bickering, leaving Georgie alone with Zxander.

The two of them sat in silence for a moment, then Zxander placed his hand on her arm.

"So. Why are you really upset?" Georgie frowned. If she had been going to confess to anyone in the town, it wouldn't have been Zxander. There was nothing wrong with him, she didn't dislike him or anything like that. He was nice enough, attentive and supportive. Since his miscalculated outburst about her staying and not looking for her friends, she had noticed he was more careful around her, like he was afraid of saying something else to upset her. But she didn't know him that well. She didn't know anyone in the town that well. And she didn't like the way he always seemed to be there, like he was afraid she was going to make a run for it. She'd promised Dayo she wouldn't, and Herman had agreed to start looking for other towns, so she didn't understand what he thought he was achieving.

Ignoring his question, she leant back and focused her attention on the school across the street. A teenage girl, probably not much older than Matthew, was leaning over a young girl of about five or six. The girl was clutching her leg, and Georgie could see that her knee was bleeding. The older girl was stroking the girls cheek and talking to her, whilst the little girl nodded and sniffed. After a moment, the older girl swung the younger onto her back and piggy backed her into the school.

Something about the scene was too much for Georgie. To her embarrassment, she felt tears rolling down her cheeks. Any attempt to rein them in and regain control dissolved into pieces when Zxander moved his understanding hand from her arm to around her shoulders. Her only claim to her dignity was that although her crying was relentless, it was for the most part silent.

"I just…I just miss them." She finally was able to get the words out. "I miss them just being there. And that lesson, that was something we did together. I know it sounds pathetic, but it was like being a family. And now it's gone, and I'm alone again. I mean really alone, because before I had Adele. Then I had Daryl and T-Dog. Then I had everyone and now it's all gone." Zxanders arm tightened around her shoulder, and for a moment, she buried her face into his chest.

"I know, what I said before came out wrong. I didn't mean that you should replace all those people. What I meant was, you don't have to be alone." Georgie was silent for a moment, suddenly very conscious of the fact that Zxanders arms were still wrapped around her. Daryls face flashed in her mind, and she slowly pulled herself away. She smiled shakily and stood up, picking up the sharpened arrows.

"I think I'll drop these off. Maybe have a sleep before Dayo collects me for the next class." She walked down the steps, her mind swirling with confused thoughts, very aware of Zxanders eyes watching her walk away.


	9. Take Action

**OK, so I know I am taking FOREVER with the linking and there isn't a lot of fighting right now, but if you've read my stories before, you know I'm building up to something. I promise. Just have faith in me ;)**

Georgie had been prepared for the weeks before they were allowed out to survey the towns to drag, to take an eternity. But to her surprise, now that she was immersing herself into the towns routine, she found very little time to sit around and mope. It was only in the few minutes before she passed out in her bed that she found herself thinking about the people she was hoping to find.

She couldn't get over how _ORGANINSED _they were. She and Michonne marvelled about it in private moments. Whereas before she had mistakenly thought that everyone played one pivotal role in the community, after a day or two actually being involved, she realised that whilst everyone had one area of particular expertise, everyone knew something about everything. The week after Herman had agreed to look for other towns, she had been assigned to Dayos group, much to her relief. Michonne and Sayid had been assigned to him too, and she had gotten to know the group the best, on account of them bringing her in. Dayo had wasted no time in making sure that as well as leading her archery classes, which she was now enjoying quite a lot, after getting over her initial pangs of nostalgia, that she attended all the other classes that were on offer. In the first three days, she'd been in Sayid's knife class, a sword class with Michonne, engaged in hand to hand combat, learnt to identify non-poisonous plants and tie snares to trap forest animals and some basic first aid.

Naturally, due to the amount of time she had spent in the forest hunting with Daryl and T-Dog, had made her look like somewhat of an expert with the snares and scavenging. Her experience with the Governor and his twisted games in the 'ring' meant she aced Donnie's hand to hand combat classes. But Jack and Jacci's basic first aid had thrown her somewhat.

"I don't remember amputation being a requirement to achieve my First Aiders badge in the Girl Guides." Georgie's stomach had turned somewhat as Jack had demonstrated on a recently butchered chicken how to tie ligatures to stop bleeding long enough for the injured person to be brought back to Jack and Jacci for antibiotics that would hopefully save their life.

"Really? It's a skill every well brought up woman should have you know." Jacci had tried to make light of the situation, but Georgie had still wanted to throw up as she tied the threads around the vein of the chicken.

"So basically, if we're to believe you, you can decapitate a zombie with no issues, but the chicken leg, that was a step too far?" Levan hadn't been able to stop teasing Georgie about it for the remainder of the day.

The following three weeks had gone by just as fast, and now they were on their last day of scavenger patrol. The next day, they would be sent out to pick up where the last group had left off, exploring the nearest town for any sign of life. The group, which Oscar lead, had come back encouraged. Although the town wasn't obviously lived in, they had seen others. They had taken a risky approach, and camped in one of the towns buildings, watching a street, and had seen people coming in vans and searching the shops, taking anything they could. Oscar had noted that whilst they looked well enough, not as thin as people barely getting by, they didn't seem as strong as people in their complex. He reasoned that they must be living either in the town, in a very secluded area, or they were coming to and from the other town.

"A risky strategy," Herman had said, shaking his head. "All it would take, is for one of those things to notice them, and they'd have a herd swarming on their camp.

But, before any of this, before Georgie could get out there and search for the base herself, she had had jobs to do. There had been a week spent farming and doing basic repairs on the many 'recovered' cars, bikes and Lorries that were accumulated in the base, as well and tending to the horses. The horses made Georgie think of Maggie, and how she had told her that before the world had gone to shit, she had ridden horses on her fathers farm. Then there were the weeks spent on lookout and scavenging. It was the first time that Georgie had been outside the complex.

"There are two walls?" She had barely been able to believe her eyes. Two walls encircles the complex. The inner wall was stone, crudely made, but strong. The outer wall looked less sturdy, made of wood, supported by a lower line of stone. Interestingly, there was also series of lines connecting the two walls, although some seemed to end abruptly. Jacci had nudged Zxander and grinned.

"Explain it then." Sayid stared at Zxander.

"This was your idea?" Zxander nodded looking shy, but proud.

"It's an extra line of defence. We thought we could start to create a maze of sorts. If the zombies get through the first wall, they'd still have to find their way through. I thought if we made the wall thick enough, we could run along the top and shot down at them. When people go out scavenging, they're suppose to look out for stone and things to help build it up."

The revelation that Zxander had dreamt up and co-ordinated this extra line of defence had impressed Georgie no end. Before, she had simply seen him as pure brawn. Now she could see that there was a sharp mind there too.

"Of course, you wouldn't have known." Bella had explained a week or so later when Georgie had thought to bring it up whilst they were out scavenging for vegetation and game. "Zxander played football for his high school, but he worked on a construction site. He knows a lot about building things. They wanted to send him to night school, to learn more about the technical side. I remember his dad was really proud of it, he wouldn't shut up bragging about it to my dad."

"Oh so you knew him before then?" Georgie wasn't surprised. She had suspected the two of being brother and sister for a while, but this relationship was just as valid.

"Yeah, I was the year below his younger brother and his brother and mine were best friends. When the zombies really hit our town bad, my parents got bitten and died almost straight away. My mum was a nurse you see, and dad was a doctor. That's how they met. So his parents took us in. It was ok at first, but then Zxanders dad was bitten, going out for supplies. That sent his mother over the edge, so she hung herself." Georgie was sure that she should be disturbed by the matter of fact way that Bella was retelling this story, but she was sure that Bella had seen much worse since.

"So the four of us decided to try to make our way to Atlanta, because it was a safe zone. Well, you know how that was. Luckily, we found a sign someone had put on a car. It was addressed to a guy called Morgan, but it saved our life." Georgie's insides had done a full 360 degree flip upon hearing that, but had bitten her tongue. "We ended up taking shelter inside a gas station, but that became over ran with the dead within two days. Blake-Zxanders brother-was bitten and died, and we got trapped inside." Here she stopped, biting her lip. She looked at Georgie, hesitant. Georgie sat still. There was obviously something troubling Bella, something she wanted to say, but she didn't want to force it out of her.

"If I tell you something…you won't tell anyone else will you?" Georgie shook her head. Bella reached out and absent mindedly polished her knife, glancing towards the clearing where they were hoping a deer or buck would wonder into the range of Georgies arrow. She swallowed and started to speak, her voice quieter.

"You…can't blame him. He didn't do it because he's a bad person. In fact, he did it because he is a good person.

They thought I was asleep. I could hear my brother talking. He was saying how they should make a run for it. They were both on the football team and he said they could just barge their way through. But Zxander didn't want to, he didn't want to leave me behind. And then my brother, he said…if I went out first, I could distract them. Because I would hold them back. My own brother." For the first time, a glimmer of emotion flickered across Bellas face.

"Then there was a struggle. I could hear them fighting. And then screaming. The next morning, it was just Zxander. He said…he said my brother had made a run for it. But I know what happened. Zxander threw him out, to stop him from killing me. He thinks I don't know. And I haven't told anyone but you that I know the truth."

Georgie nodded. She didn't need to know why Bella had told her. It was obvious she just needed to tell someone. Again, her opinion of Zxander rose. It was obvious that he hadn't killed Bellas brother to protect Bella. He'd done it because he knew that if he could turn on Bella, he could turn on anyone. He'd made the right decision, even though it wasn't the easy one. She had to respect him for that.

Now, in the abandoned town, Georgie sat on the roof top, watching the streets below, Bella on her left, and Dayo on her right. The streets were practically empty, only a few walkers roamed the streets. She watched as Sayid and Jacci picked off the walkers before they even realised they were there, with clean knife cuts to the head. Zxander and Michonne were hidden away in a shop on ground level. The three groups were connected only by the old fashioned walky talkies that they carried, and this made Georgie nervous. Unfamiliar territory, in her opinion, should be explored in one group, not split up and all over the place. But this was Dayos group, and Dayo was in charge.

"Michonne, you and Zxander good?" A pause, and then Michonnes voice crackled over the radio.

"Fine. Nothing happening down here. We're just setting up for the day."

"Ok. Keep us posted. Anything strange happens, any of the dead crowd you, you let us know and we'll be on it." Dayo peered over the roof at Jacci, who gave him a nod and a thumbs up. Satisfied, he turned to face the girls.

"Now we just wait." He loaded his rifle and looked down the barrel. "And hope that someone living comes along." The three of them settled down to watch the street.

The time passed slowly. From time to time Dayo made contact with the others on the ground, to make sure everyone was ok, but nothing was happening.

After what felt like an eternity, but was closer to two hours, the radio crackled to life.

"Dayo, Sayid, come in!" Zxanders voice was quiet, but urgent. Bella snatched the phone from Dayo and whispered into it.

"Zxander, it's Bella what is it?"

"We have a situation. There's a kid down here, being chased by a small herd. Maybe twenty to thirty. Do we engage?"

"Give us your location. Is it in open space?" Dayo took command as Georgie loaded up her arrow."

"Three blocks to the left of you and the girls." The radio crackled again, and Sayid spoke into the speaker.

"Move down two blocks from the walkers, you can run faster. Jacci and I can take some of them from the rear. We'll come around from the right."

"Agreed." Dayo stood up. "We'll come from the top, the roofs are close enough to jump. Both of you take down the dead from the front, and when the kid runs past, grab him and run. Find somewhere with a fire escape. Sayid, Jacci, when you hear me say, get up onto the roof. Try not to freak the kid out. He may know where Georgies friends are. And everyone. BE CAREFUL." He turned off the walky talky and pointed.

"That way. Stay close. And Georgie," he turned and smiled at her. "Show me what you can REALLY do with that bow."


	10. The Miracle

**OK, so I hope this links the two stories, and makes everything a bit more understandable! By the way, if ever you want me to write from someones in particulat, do just PM me and I'll try to work it in. I know some of you are desperate for more Dog, Dixon and Andrea thoughts!**

**Matthew**

The horde was closing in on him. He could almost feel their rancid breath on his neck, feel their fingertips brushing the back of his jacket. Everytime he threw a glance back at them, he could see them getting closer and closer. He was tiring fast, and he knew unless he found a way to get onto the roofs, or a miracle happened, he would tire himself out, the walkers would not, and he would die, ripped to shreds by the pack behind him. And the longer he ran, the more convinced he became that he was going to die.

Alone.

Everything had gone wrong from the moment he had stepped foot in the town, less than four days ago. About the only thing he had managed, was to find a source of water in an abandoned grocery store. He had found nowhere secure enough to make up a permanent shelter, and had not had a decent nights sleep since the night of Dales murder. He didn't even know if he had missed the groups run into the town. T-Dog had promised that he would bring him some proper food and extra weapons a few days in, but he had been so out of it that he had been unable to pull himself together for long enough to keep a look out for him. When he hadn't been trying to look for a safe place to live, or snatching a few precious hours of sleep, he had been going crazy, wondering about his brother, Sophie, Dale and the rest of his friends. He didn't even know if Dale was still alive.

He couldn't breath. Now was the time. If he turned now, he could still take a few out with his gun. He could go out fighting and not disgrace himself. He reached for his gun and turned.

Suddenly a fire exit door flew open. Hands grabbed Matthew and pulled him into the building. He heard the door slam shut before he could react. He pulled himself out of the hands, which gave him up easily, and whirled around, gun in hand.

"Don't shoot! We're human!" There were only two of them, a man and a woman. The man was huge. The biggest Matthew had seen in a long time, not just in height, but in all over stature. He was muscular and broad shouldered, and looked like he hadn't been hungry in a long time. The other person was a black lady, who looked like she had walked straight out of a comic book. She had a cloak, hair braided down to her shoulders. But the thing that drew his eye the most, was the huge sword that he held in her hands. For a second, Matthew just stared at them. Then the thumping on the door brought him to his senses. The man darted forward and half pulled, half lead Matthew to some stairs.

"The roof, now! Michonne, don't be a hero!" The woman looked back at the door and then ran up the stairs behind them. Matthew was staggering now, shock, exhaustion and hunger all hitting him at once. He felt the hands of the man supporting him. "Come on kid, don't quit on me now, you've got this far, so don't quit. Just get to the roof, and don't quit, don't you dare quit, not when we've come this far to get you." The man kept up the steady stream of meaningless chat as they climbed endless stairs. Somewhere through his befuddled mind, Matthew could hear guns firing outside.

The sunlight came as a shock to his eyes when they finally hit the roof. He fell onto the gravel and for a moment lay there. He was aware of the door slamming shut and someone fumbling with chains. Then he felt a strong hand pulling him up and heard the man speaking.

"Do exactly as I say. Drink." A bottle was pressed to his mouth and water slipped down his throat. Fresh water, not the stale stuff he was lugging around. "Now chew on this. Slowly." The man fed pieces of what tasted like dried beef into Matthews mouth. "Sit up." Matthew sat up slowly, his head spinning. He closed his eyes, and tried not to hurl. When he opened them, the sword lady was staring at his face. He self consciously put his hand to his scar and looked at the floor. Before anyone could speak, a crackling voice came from the mans hip.

"Zxander. Zxander did you get him?" The man, who must have been Zxander, pulled a walky talky out and spoke into it.

"He's here. He's weak. Doesn't seem to have eaten much. He's been in the wars this one. He's got scarring all over his face and one of his eyes."

"But he's ok?" Matthew frowned. He could hear the mans voice over the radio, but he could also hear a voice in the background. A woman's voice. And something about it was bugging him. The voice was insistent. Frantic. But why did it bug him so much? He creased his eyes and tried to focus.

"He has a scar on his face? And one of his eyes?" The voice came over loud and clear. Had the woman snatched it away? "Have you asked him his name? Is he there? What's his name Zxander? Zxander?" Zxander looked at the radio as if he was confused by the question. He looked at Matthew.

"What's your name kid?" Matthew stared at him, and held his hand out for the radio.

"Can I talk to her?" Zxander shrugged and handed over the radio.

"Hello? Hello?" The woman was getting more and more agitated. The memories associated with her voice were getting clearer, just out of reach. He cleared his throat.

"I'm Matthew. Who are you?"

There was a sharp intake of breath. A long pause. Then the woman spoke again. And suddenly it clicked in his head, and he felt like all the breath had been sucker punched out of his body. He didn't really hear what she said, he just listened to the sound of her voice, unable to comprehend that he had ever forgotten it, unable to believe that he was hearing it again.

"Matthew. Matthew are you still there? Listen, we're making our way to you now. You just stay there with Zxander and Michonne. Take out some walkers from the rooftops, show them what you can do. Make me proud ok?" Blinking back tears that had been a long time overdue Matthew whispered back into the radio.

"Yes Georgie."


	11. Fighting for it

**Bella**

There was no time for Georgie to cry or celebrate. As soon as she handed the radio to Dayo, the three of them were on their feet. Bella pointed out the large brown building, where the walkers were scrabbling at the door. One could only assume that that were where Zxander, Michonne and the boy were holed up. Peering over the edge, she could see Sayid quickly and efficiently picking off walkers, before they even registered they were there. With a jolt she realised she couldn't see Jacci.

"Bella, get back." She pulled away to the side just in time to see Dayo take a flying leap off the edge of the building. For a split second, he flew through the air, and then solidly landed on the roof across from them. He was now on the building directly opposite the one they needed to get into. He turned, and beckoned them across. Bella walked across to the other side of the roof, where Georgie was already adjusting her bow on her back, ready to make the leap. She almost placed her hand on her arm, went to tell her to keep her mind clear, but thought better of it. Georgie didn't need telling what to do. There was no way she would have lived this long if she couldn't use her brain. She watched as Georgie sprinted to the roof edge and leapt into Dayos arms. She envied them both their height. If she didn't get her run up right, there was a good chance she'd simply fall to the ground below. Shaking her mind clear of the thought, she raced towards the roof picking up as much speed as she could. She felt her foot make contact with the ledge and jumped.

**Jacci**

Breathing through her teeth helped. A little. It stopped her hands shaking, but it didn't quell her overwhelming desire to run away. Even hiding in the fire escape with a rifle, shooting the walkers that Sayid missed make felt too much like a risk. But she had to make herself stay there, to face the situation head on. Even if it was against her very nature.

She'd survived this far by sneaking around, running away, hiding in shadows. Before she had found the settlement, she had never killed a walker in her life. Everytime she had heard or seen even a hint of one, she'd gone in the opposite direction. She hadn't even teamed up with people in an attempt to survive until she had been unceremoniously pulled into a van and taken to Elysium. At first it had been perfect, until she had realised that she was expected to be in combat. She'd attempted to put it off by showing herself to be useful in the hospital with Jack, thinking that if they saw she was indispensable, they wouldn't risk her. But it very quickly came to light that even those who worked in the hospital were still expected to go out and fight. It was unavoidable, and she had to learn to deal with it.

Another walker shot through the left eye. Sayid gave her the briefest of thank you nods before he continued expertly slashing and stabbing. Jacci reloaded, and resumed taking out the walkers in front. There were far less now. Soon they'd be able to go around the front and climb into the building, regroup with Michonne and Zxander. Talk to the boy.

Two, three more fell to the ground.

Oh she was good. She knew she was. Apparently not good enough to be on a roof top like Bella and Georgie. There was no point in comparing herself to Georgie. The woman was a survival machine. Almost the opposite of Jacci. If Georgie saw a walker coming towards her, Jacci was sure she would simply take it head on. Fight, not flight. Bella was the same. And yet they were up with Dayo and she was down here. Maybe it was because they were both better at a long range then her.

Or maybe it was because the last time she had been out with Dayo, he'd been bitten.

She had panicked. There had been too many of them, and she hadn't been able to hold them all. She'd tried to shot, tried to gather her thoughts and think quickly, but she had made the wrong choices. She hadn't kept her eyes open, and Dayo had been bitten.

That was a lesson you couldn't help but learn. That was a mistake she wasn't going to make twice. She hoped that was why Dayo had placed her on the ground, to make her learn from her mistakes, not because he didn't trust her. Or maybe he just though that Sayid would be less likely to suffer if she made another error in her judgement.

Two more down. There were less than ten left. Time to engage in hand to hand combat. She closed her eyes and swallowed the bile. Sitting up, she swung her legs over the side of the escape and prepared herself.

"Fight not flight, fight not flight."

**Dayo**

The run down the stairs of the building was short and swift. It was as if wings had attached themselves to the heels of his feet-even the false one. He was amazed at how well he had adapted. He reached the front of the store and smashed the glass through, catching the attention of the last few walkers. He could see Sayid taking out a few stragglers at the back, as well as Jacci leaping down into battle. A stray walker staggered towards him, attracting the attention of several others. All rotted beyond recognition, some missing parts of noses, some with the flesh hanging off their cheeks, most with bones protruding through various parts of the body. He cleared the glass from the door, enough for his to get through without cutting himself unnecessarily and stepped through.

In training, they were always told that they needed to dodge and dive around the undead, disorientate them, and then attack. Dayo much preferred the direct approach. It wasn't as if his size and strength would be a disadvantage here. An arrow flew past him, lodging itself in the eye of the nearest walker only heightened his sense of security.

Well, it lessened his fear of dying.

Pulling out a heavy spanner, Dayo swung it into the skull of the next walker with as much force as he could manage, which was a considerable amount. It only took one direct hit for the creatures head to cave in and it collapsed to the floor. He yanked the spanner out, and selected his next target. A flash of something small and dark streaked past him, and Bella had tripped up a walker and was plunging an axe into its head. Another walked up behind her, and yet again, an arrow was shot straight into its eye. Georgie came past him, face set, planting another arrow into her crossbow. Dayo could see her muscle straining as she locked the mechanism, and realised just how underfed she must have been before she arrived at the complex. Pulling out his walky talky, he switched it on.

"Zxander, we're coming in at the front. Be aware,, check before you shoot."

"Roger that. Everyone alive?"

"Everyone who should be." Dayo clicked off and kicked into the chest of a walker who had been rather portly in his life, providing a feast for the walkers who had dug into his stomach, leaving his insides exposed. He reeled backwards, giving Dayo enough time to pull back his arm and get the spanner wedged into his head. He moved towards the third walker in his line of sight, ready to crush its skull. But before he reached it, a knife shot out through its mouth and it feel to the floor. Behind it, Sayid stood, grim faced, Jacci behind him, gun raised.

"And now?" Sayid pocketed the knife, still covered in blood.

"Here." Bella started to work away at the boards that covered a window, prying them away with her fingers, pulling out the nails. Dayo and Sayid joined her, tugging and teasing them away to reveal a space just large enough to wiggle through.

"Guys?" Something in Jaccis voice made Dayo turn around. Down the street another hoard of walkers were slowly making their way towards them. Far more than it was sensible to take on.

"Zxander, we need some cover from upstairs, _NOW_" Dayo frantically started to pull at the boards, wiggling them free. Shots started to fire from above and on the floor. Walkers fell, but there were more and more coming, closer and closer.

"Go, go!" Sayid pushed Bella up and shoved her through the gap. "Jacci!" Jacci raced towards them and handed the gun to Sayid before climbing through the gap. Pulling another board free, Dayo made the hole bigger as Sayid shot at the walkers. He turned, about to tell Sayid to climb through, when he realised something.

"Where the hell is Georgie?" He turned scanning the horizon desperately. "This is NOT the time to disappear."

"GEORGIE!" Sayid started to move forward, apparently intending to look for her, but Dayo jerked him back.

"We can't risk it, there's too many of them." Sayid shrugged him off.

"No, we have to find her…" Before Sayid could continue, Georgie came hurtling around the corners, a bunch of arrows in her hand.

"What the hell are you doing standing there?" She raced up to them, screaming, amongst every cuss word Dayo knew, for them to "go, go, go!" Dayo grabbed the scruff of Sayids top and stuffed him through the hole in the board.

"Why are you still outside, get in!" Georgie skidded up to him, throwing her crossbow into the hole.

"What the hell were you doing?" Dayo boosted Georgie in, forgetting about his decision not to tear her a new one until they were safe. She turned inside and grabbed one of his arms, Sayid taking another.

"Arrows are not in limitless supply." Dayo felt fingers close around his ankle as Sayid and Georgie gave another tug and he fell into the bare room. Bony fingers clutched at the edge of the window, as walkers started to crawl through. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Jacci go to raise her rifle, and he waved her down.

"Don't waste your bullets. Get to the roof asap! Bella…" Before he could even finish the sentence, Bella had swung her backpack from her shoulder and was pulling out a heavy chain and open padlock. Dayo nodded and retreated to the door at the back of the store, shouting over his shoulder, "keep an eye out for any door we can chain shut, anything at all. Then he was running up the stairs, close on Bellas heels, the walkers closing in on his.


	12. Close Encounters

**I apologise for my rather sketchy details of how to start a car, but I still haven't bothered to learn to drive myself! **

**Zxander**

"We're screwed aren't we?" Bellas voice was flat and emotionless. Zxander didn't answer. What was he supposed to say? He didn't want to agree with her-even though that was his inclination. Surrounded by walkers, which as far as he knew were separated from them, only by two, maybe three doors, chained shut. The roofs were further apart here-he knew he could make the leap, but the others? Sayid, Michonne, yes, Georgie, probably-although the thought of her risking the leap made his stomach clench in a painful way. Dayo? Before he lost his leg, definitely, now? Not so sure. But Bella, Jacci, Matthew? No way. Bella was too small, her legs not powerful enough. Jacci couldn't even make the small leaps, that was why she had to stay on ground level. And Matthew was so weak from hunger and dehydration that Zxander wasn't sure he was strong enough to even make it to the edge of the roof, let alone jump.

He was lying in Georgies lap now, holding onto her hand very tightly, as if he was afraid that she would disappear again. He was half asleep-or unconscious, either would be a plausible theory-curled up on her lap. He looked more like an eight year old then the fourteen or fifteen year old Georgie had spoken of. But Zxander didn't doubt that when he was fed and rested, he was probably as capable of handling himself as anyone else. How else could he have lived in the city for the four to five days he thought he'd been there. It had been hard to get much information out of him. Between the exhaustion, the shock of seeing Georgie effectively back from the dead, and the near death experience, he was wiped out.

"We're not screwed." Michonne spoke from the roof edge. "Every problem has a solution. You just have to look for it." She pointed with her sword down the side of the building. "There's a fire escape down there. The walkers are all concentrated around the front, trying to get in after us. If we move now, we can escape before they lose interest."

"You can. Matthew will never be able to move fast enough. And I'm not leaving him again." Georgie placed an arm protectively on his shoulder. Zxander knew there was no point arguing. He'd feel the exact same way.

"You don't have to." Sayid was now looking over the side of the roof. "Our trucks have open backs. And they're not far away. Two of us can get to them and drive them back here. The rest of you could jump into the backs."

"That's even more risky than just running for it," Dayo interrupted. "Those trucks were not made for stealth, that's why we left them so far out. They'll attract the attention of every undead son of a bitch for miles around."

"We'll be fast. And if we want to try to get everyone out, it's the only option we have. Unless you want to leave people behind?" Sayid and Michonne both walked backwards from the wall edge.

"Better with three." Zxander stood up and stood next to them. "At least you have a back up body then." He avoided looking at Bella, knowing her face would be strained. Instead he looked at Georgie. Her face was composed, but her eyes were filled with gratitude, filling him with resolve.

"Let's go then." Michonne adjusted the strap fastening her katana to her back and ran to the roof edge, clearing the gap effortlessly. Sayid smiled briefly at the group, before following her over the edge. Zxander crouched down next to Bella and Georgie, taking Bellas hand in his.

"It'll be fine. Promise." He dug into his pocket and handed Georgie his dried beef. "When he's awake, get him to alternate between chewing on this and drinking water." Georgie took the beef from him, holding onto his hand for just a moment.

"Zxander. Thank you." Zxander shrugged, and looked towards the next roof. Time was precious, and he needed to move. He ran to the edge and jumped through the air, landing with a shock on the other roof. He turned, and waved to the others.

"Be ready to climb down the escape. We'll be back."

"Not if we don't move." Michonne sounded impatient. "We can talk later." She pointed to the side of the building furthest away. "We climb down that fire escape, and run through the back alleys to the trucks." Sayid nodded.

"We need to turn there and keep going straight." Michonne wasn't listening though, already swinging her legs over the side of the wall. Zxander listened for the clang of metal as she hit the first floor of the escape, but heard nothing. The men followed, Zxander silently marvelling at her speed and stealth.

They hit the floor, and as Michonne had predicted, it was clear of all but three walkers. Zxander had barely had time to take out his knife, before Michonne had sliced through the skulls of all three.

"This way." She moved ahead, darting behind a car and crouching there, waiting for the men.

"Is she human? Or some sort of zombie slaying robot sent from the future?" Zxander realised he was only half joking. Sayid only grinned in response as they crouched down next to Michonne, and took in the scene.

The majority of the undead were still hammering on the door of the building that they had disappeared into, and to Zxanders horror, the wood was beginning to buckle. A few had lost interest, and were wondering around aimlessly in the street. One or two were making their way in their direction, but from their purposeless movements, Zxander felt confident that they hadn't been spotted.

He felt a punch to his arm, and turned to see Michonne pointing at a series of cars. She obviously intended for them to make their way from car to car, until they were able to cross the street and make their way down the alleys.

"Remember, no guns, knives only," Sayid whispered. Zxander resisted the urge to make a duh noise.

They crept from car to car, trying to keep themselves going in the opposite direction of the dead corpses roaming the street. Zxander hardly dared to breath, convinced that he was going to trip, or drop something, that would alert the dead to their presence.

But they were in luck. Slipping into the first alley, Zxander leant against the wall and breathed a sigh of relief. A crunching sound to his left made him start and he turned his head just in time to see a headless corpse collapse on the floor. Looking at where Michonne was stood, he guessed it must have been feeding on something amongst the bins. Walking past, his suspicions were confirmed when he saw the mangled body of a dog lying amongst the garbage.

As they moved through the city, the absence of the dead both reassured and worried Zxander. He knew that the less zombies there were wondering around the city, the faster that they would get to the trucks. But he also knew that the reason that the streets were so empty was that the majority of the dead were trying to get to the group they'd left behind on the roof. He could only hope that the wood on the door would hold up.

But when they reached the small parking lot they had left the trucks, it soon became apparent that they had bigger problems. A group of three men were rooting through the trucks, one apparently trying to hotwire the bigger one.

"HEY!" Sayid shouted out, moving towards the men. "My friends, those are our trucks."

One of the men turned around to face them. Zxander had a brief impression of a stocky man, bald with squinty eyes.

"We're not your friends, buddy." Zxander saw, as if in slow motion, the man bring up a rifle to his shoulder, but before he could react, a gun shot ripped through the air. Sayid spun around, blood spraying in an arc and fell to the floor.

Instinctively, Zxander pulled out his pistol. He didn't need to aim, he simply fired, and the man fell to the floor, a bullet to his head. The other two men jumped out of the truck, drawing their weapons, but their hands didn't even touch their guns before Zxander had fired bullets into their skulls. Michonne was already by Sayids side, and seemed to be pressing down on his chest. Zxander ran to them both, fearing that a mercy killing was on the way.

"That man was a lousy shot." Michonne was ripping up her sleeves and applying them to Sayids chest. "He only got him in the shoulder. If we apply enough pressure, we can prevent the majority of the blood loss. But we have to move now."

Zxander pulled a set of keys out of his pocket. "Take these. Get to the others. I can hot wire the other car easy. I'll be right behind you." Michonne opened her mouth, but he cut her off. "Four gunshots is enough to bring the entire undead population of this city on us in the next five minutes. If you hang around, then you put him at risk." He pulled Sayid to his feet and wrapped one arm around his shoulder, supporting him as he staggered towards the truck. Pushing Sayid in to the back, he tossed the keys to Michonne.

"Where are the keys for that truck?" Michonne caught the keys in one hand, sliding into the drivers seat. Zxander shrugged.

"On the body of its original owner." He felt under the dashboard for the two wires he needed. "But it's the biggest and most solid vehicle we have." He looked up to see Michonne hadn't moved. "You need to get going." He looked out of the front of the truck to see the first of what he could only assume would be hundreds, of zombies staggering towards them. "The smell of blood will get them going, you need to drive." He saw her hesitate, for just a moment, and then felt the engine leap into life. He shifted the truck into gear, and put his foot down, aiming the truck for the creatures who were moving towards them, arms outstretched.


	13. Close to the Edge

**Dayo**

It could not have been longer than an hour, but it felt like an eternity. Dayo knew that the trucks were temperamental, that just because they started to run, didn't mean that they would continue. Zxander, Michonne and Sayid could be stranded, run down by walkers in the middle of the city.

And then there was the gunshot he had heard.

There was no way that the others couldn't have heard it. It had rung around the deserted city loud and clear. But no one had mentioned it. They had all remained silent, ignoring what had they had heard. Now they were just waiting. No one knew what for.

There was another problem. The walkers had reached the top of the stairs and were now pounding on the door. Enough pressure, or walkers, on the door, and they were doomed. Zxander, Sayid and Michonne needed to move fast.

"That door's going to break." Jacci broke the silence.

"No it's not." Bella stared at Jacci seemingly trying to communicate through her eyes. "It's going to hold until we need it to." If she had been staring at Dayo the way she was staring at Jacci, he would have keep his mouth shut, but Jacci was oblivious, wrapped up in her own panic.

"We're trapped up here. This is it. They're going to get through the door and then we're doomed." She looked around frantically, and her eyes rested on Georgie and the boy, Matthew. She raised a finger and pointed at them accusingly. "And it's your fault."

Georgie looked at Jacci, and her arms wrapped protectively around Matthew, never taking her eyes off Jacci. Jacci moved closer, spitting venom in Georgies face.

"We should have never come here, but you wanted to. If you hadn't made us come here, looking for _him_"- here she stabbed her finger at Matthew-"then we'd be safe at home." She was far too close to the both of them now. Dayo could see Georgie loosening her grip on Matthew, her eyes still fixed on Jacci. Dayo glanced at Bella, who was also watching, seemingly holding her breath.

"Jacci," he said, trying keep his voice low and calm, trying to get her to come to her senses. "Jacci, there is no reason we can't all make it all out alive. It's not anyones fault that we're here, it's just how it is. So, just sit down, take a breath and Zxander and the others will be here before you know it." Just as he finished his sentence, the door gave a particularly vicious rattle. Jaccis eyes widened, and she looked at the door, and back at Georgie and Matthew. Georgie had picked Matthew off her lap, and placed him on the roof floor. She was now sitting on her heels, in feral, cat-like stance.

For a moment, Jacci and Georgie simply eyeballed each other. Then Jacci lunged at Matthew.

Before Dayo could react, Jacci's head snapped back, and she clutched at her face. Blood poured from between her fingers, and Georgie lowered her fist. Dayo stood stunned and confused, unsure of the next move.

"Leave him alone." Georgie's voice was quiet, but commanding. "He's all I have left. If you try to hurt him, next time, I'll break your neck." Jacci said nothing, but gasped for air through her mouth. Bella placed her hand on her shoulder, and guided her to the edge of the roof to examine the damage. Dayo suddenly realised he'd been clenching his fists, and relaxed his hands. If the trucks didn't arrive soon, things could get out of hand. Jacci was not the calmest of people in the first place. She didn't want to be in the middle of the fighting, and this situation was obviously more than she could cope with. He also didn't doubt that if she threatened Matthew again, Georgie would make good on her threat to kill her.

The sounds of engines were like music to his ears-better than music. The noise was faint, but it was getting closer.

"Move, get down the stair way now!" He pushed Bella towards the fire escape, and helped Georgie get a grip under Matthews arms. But even in his weakened state, the boy seemed to realise the importance of moving fast, and Dayo turned his attention to Jacci.

"Come on, move Jacci. The trucks are here, we're getting out." She pushed past him, almost scrambling down the ladder.

Less than ten minutes later, they were stood on the last platform, suspended above an empty alleyway. Dayo could hear the trucks getting closer and closer.

"Sit down Matthew, it'll be safer for you to jump from there." Matthew shook his head at Dayo.

"It's ok. I'd rather just jump." Dayo nodded, not sure if he was impressed or worried.

"Ok then. Well get ready, here they come." Matthew braced himself, ready for the leap.

The first truck pulled up underneath and Michonnes head poked out from the drivers side. Her usually composed face looked uneasy, and Dayo felt another jolt of unease.

"Sayid was shot. People tried to steal the car. Zxander's circling the block to draw off the dead but I can only take two."

Dayo didn't even need to think. He gave Matthew a shove, sending him sprawling into the back of the truck. He then grabbed Bella and half pushed, half threw her in. She had barely landed when the truck sped off. He looked up the alley to see that they had already attracted some unwanted attention. His stomach knotted. Four would soon become a swarm of forty, maybe more. Zxander needed to hurry, else it really would end here.

As if summoned by him, the second truck sped down the alley, knocking over two of the monsters. Dayo turned to the girls.

"We need to jump together, we can't pause." He pushed Jacci and Georgie in front of him, and braced himself. Just as the truck started to slow under the platform, he gave the girls a push and jumped himself. He felt his foot connect with the truck and gripped onto the side. He glanced around to see if the girls had landed safely.

Neither of them were in the back of the truck.


	14. Over the Edge

"TURN BACK!" Dayo banged on the window separating the back of the truck to the driving seat. Zxander turned his head slightly, and his eyes widened when he saw that it was only Dayo in the back.

"Brace yourself!" He swung the truck around in the open road and Dayo was almost thrown out himself. He clung onto the sides and felt his half empty stomach threaten to dispose of what was left. The truck screeched to a halt and he could hear Zxander almost screaming in panic. He got to his feet and jumped over the side, running past the truck.

Jacci was on top of Georgie. She'd somehow pinned Georgies arms to her side with her legs, and was punching her face in a blind rage. Georgie was trying desperately to buck her off somehow. Even though there was blood all over her face, and deep scratch marks across her neck, she was focused on the walkers behind Jacci. In her frenzy, Jacci either had forgotten about the menace, or didn't care. Georgie was shouting something, but there was too much blood in her mouth and she simply ended up spitting a red, foamy mess into Jaccis face. Even as Dayo advanced, one walker closed its decayed, rotted hand on Jaccis shoulder and bit into her neck.

Only when she felt the teeth make contact with her skin did Jacci come out of her trance. She screamed in terror and pain, clawing at the dead man that was latched onto her neck, but to no avail. Even if she survived the bite, there was no amputation that could save her. Georgie started to writhe and kick even more, as another walker started to advance on her, drawn to the fresh blood all over her face. Without thinking, Dayo placed a bullet between its eyes and ran to her. The walkers were now more interested in Jacci and were dragging her off Georgie. More were coming down the alley, but they were only interested in what their companions were already eating. He placed his hands under Georgies arms, and dragged her from under Jacci. Looking down into her face, he could see blood and sweat mingling on her face, which was frozen into a mask of shock. She kicked her legs free, knocking one of the walkers, as it tore a piece of flesh from Jaccis arm. It barely registered the movement, it was so engrossed in its feeding frenzy. Dayo shuddered and pulled Georgie to her feet, bundling her into the truck next to Zxander and hopping into the back. Zxander took off his jacket and passed it to Georgie, who started to mop away at the worst of the blood on her face. She must have asked about Jacci, because Dayo heard him heatedly snap that there was nothing that they could do for her that she deserved. He privately agreed, looking down at his stump. The truck reversed steadily out of the alley, and he sat up, gun in hand, ready to take out anything that got too close.


	15. Making Eggs

**I really need to get these stories finished so I can reunite the camps. Getting on top of it!**

**Georgie**

The sunlight streamed across Georgie's face through a crack in the thread bare curtains. She opened her eyes and squinted at the window, rubbing her eyes. Suddenly, her sleep addled mind registered a pressure around her waist, a feeling of skin on skin. As her mind caught up with her, she realised who it was and turned her body to face him. Daryl, still asleep, automatically re-adjusted his arm around her body, his hand now touching the scars on her back, rather than the one on her stomach, the one his brother had given her.

It was the first time she'd let him touch her back.

There was a knock at the door. Georgie sat up and reached for some trousers and a vaguely clean shirt. Daryl stirred, but he still didn't wake and Georgie didn't want to disturb him. Creeping to the bedroom door, she opened it a crack to see T-Dog standing in the hall.

"Morning." She slipped through the door and joined him in the hallway. "You sleep well on the couch?"

"Yeap." T-Dog grinned and placed a hand on her shoulder, squeezing it for a brief moment. It was something they had all been doing: Craig, Matthew, T-Dog, Daryl, even Adele when she had regained consciousness. Frequently, almost unwittingly touching her, squeezing her hand, touching her face, hugs. It was like they needed to establish that she was a solid being, and not a figment of their imagination. "Your friends next door let me have some eggs, so I fixed breakfast for everyone. I make good eggs."

"Sounds good, I'll wake Daryl." She re-entered the bedroom and sat gently on the bed next to Daryl. She didn't want him to wake up suddenly, he had a nasty habit of going straight into defence mode. She put her hand on his shoulder and shook him gently. At first, his hand searched the bed for her body, and she supressed a smile. Then he rolled over and looked at her, sleepily.

"Thought it was another dream, but the bed was warm." He sat up and put his hand on the back of her neck and pulled her close, so that their foreheads were touching. For a moment, he just looked at her, and she thought he was going to say something, but after a moment, he looked down and released her. He got out of the bed and started to dress.

"Ya gonna see that ol' lady today?" Georgie lay down across the bed and stared at the ceiling.

She lay there for a moment, replaying the previous days events in her head, trying to organise the memories in her head. They'd managed to get out of the city without attracting the attention of the walker hoard by going the long way round. T-Dog had been unable to stop talking, asking her questions about how she had survived, asking Zxander questions about the town they had come from, talking about what had happened at the town they were living in. Zxander had been listening, mostly concentrating on driving, but occasionally answering the less intrusive of T-Dogs questions. Daryl had been silent, but he hadn't let go of her hand once. Even when Zxander had stopped the car and insisted on the pair of them wearing blindfolds, Daryl hadn't complained, as long as Georgie kept hold of his hand.

When they had re entered the complex. Bella had launched herself at Zxander in a way that made Georgie realise with some guilt that they must have been presumed dead. A man who Georgie didn't recognise had started to march Daryl and T-Dog away from her, but all three of them had started to throw punches. Georgie found to her surprise that the thought of being separated from T-Dog was just a unbearable as being separated from Daryl. After actually physically forcing herself between Daryl, T-Dog and the unidentified drone, Herman and Iris, one of the only two female Seniors had appeared on the scene.

If Herman was intimidating, Iris-the ol' lady-was downright terrifying. Not so much in physical appearance, but in sheer aura. She was easily one of the oldest survivors Georgie had ever met, possibly older than Dale had been, her hair was entirely grey, and cropped short. Her eyes were blue and steely, and when they landed on Georgie, she instinctively fell silent and still. Everyone felt silent and still. For a moment, there was an uneasy lull, and then she spoke.

"What the bloody hell is going on here?" Georgie jumped. The voice was clipped. Articulated. British. When no body answered, she repeated herself. Even though her voice never rose to a shout, Georgie felt like everybody in the room had flinched. Finally, the guard started to explain that they were following the procedure for new arrivals into the town, but she cut him off.

"Oh for Gods sake." She stared at the man until he lowered his gaze. "These are the people we've been looking for since this woman got to the town. We've already decided that we want to set up a trading route and links with their town, start to expand on what we have. And you think the best start to that is to look them up in the cell?" She advanced on the man, who was now looking as if he would like to lock himself in the cell. She glowered at him until she seemed satisfied that she had made her point. Turning to Georgie, she looked her up and down in a way that made Georgie feel like an insect that was simultaneously revolting and fascinating at the same time. But instead of speaking to her, she spoke to Zxander.

"Take them to the hospital. The other three are there. Jack is attending to them. Then go to the town hall. Dayo is debriefing the others. I understand you lost Jacci." Zxander nodded. Irises face remained emotionless. "Well, I can't say I'm surprised. That girl was a walking disaster waiting to happen." Georgie felt a jolt of shock run through her. No matter what Jacci had done to her, she still felt some sadness at her death. She wanted to stare at Iris, but couldn't bring herself to meet her eyes.

"Put these two under house arrest. Georgina is in charge of them. They remain at her house today. And Georgina. You will come to the town hall tomorrow at midday. I trust you know where it is." Georgie nodded. "Then you won't be late." Iris glanced around at everyone. Seemingly satisfied with what she saw, she nodded curtly and walked out of the room, leaving everyone silent, and Georgie wondering what she could want.

"Well?" Daryls voice jerked her out of her musings. Georgie leaned up on her elbows and looked at him. He was watching her from the corner of the room. Georgie knew him well enough by now to know that corners of rooms were where Daryl stood when he felt unsure of something, or wanted to be out of the way. She sighed.

"I'm not sure I can _NOT _go." Daryl nodded.

"Yeah. She seemed like a tough ol' bitch." Georgie laughed.

"Please, please call her that to her face." Daryl didn't seem to find what he had said as amusing as she had. In fact, he looked more concerned than she had ever seen him. Before she could ask him what was wrong, T-Dog was knocking on the door, telling them to come and get their eggs before they went cold. She took Daryls hand and pulled him to the door. "I'm sure she just wants to talk about you and the others. They like their law and order here. Don't worry about it. Lets eat eggs." There was no point telling Daryl that the idea of standing before Iris filled her with dread.


End file.
